From Fat to Untouchable: The System's Billion-Dollar Payback

The Chaos At Bank, My Curiosity

Chapter 2

~ The Chaos At Bank, My Curiosity ~

"Move those crates faster, Reed, or you are going to spend your break scrubbing the bay drains with a toothbrush," Elijah Noah barked, slamming his clipboard against a shelf.

Asher did not feel any pain as he pushed a crate of frozen meat effortlessly.

The throbbing ache in his ribs from the midnight beating was entirely gone, replaced by a heat humming inside his muscle.

Every time he moved, his body felt lighter, stronger, and denser, as if the System had forged his flesh out of iron.

His phone vibrated, catching his attention, cutting through the loud noise of the warehouse.

Asher dropped the crate onto the pallet, wiped his palms on his jeans, and pulled the phone out from his pocket.

It was a text message notification from his banking app, displaying a clean green deposit confirmation for one thousand dollars.

Asher stared at the numbers on the screen, his eyes narrowing as he remembered the strange voice that whispered into his head at the ice rink.

The money was real, sitting right there in his account balance, earned through the grueling physical tasks assigned by the Task-Master System.

"Hey, deaf boy! I told you to clear aisle three!" Elijah shouted, marching down with a scowl on his face.

"I'm on it," Asher said, his voice dropping low, a deep bass that made the shift supervisor pause for a split second.

Elijah blinked, staring at Asher with a strange look of confusion, as if he noticed something different about his worker's posture.

Asher turned away without waiting for another insult, carrying two heavy crates at once where he used to struggle with just one.

By the time his grueling twelve-hour shift ended, the morning sun was burning through the smog over the industrial district.

Asher climbed into his hatchback, tossed his gym bag onto the passenger seat, and drove straight toward the main campus to handle some unfinished business.

He parked near the campus gates, pulled his hood over his forehead, and walked past the crowded student union plaza.

On the central digital billboard above the fountain, a campus life video loop, was his ex-girlfriend.

Chloe's face appeared on the television screen, laughing alongside Caelum Thorne while they promoted an upcoming student charity auction.

A group of students standing nearby pointed at the screen, whispering loud enough for Asher to hear every word.

"Look at Caelum and Chloe; they are literally the king and queen of this campus," one student giggled while holding a coffee cup. "And did you see the video Caelum posted last night of some fat guy getting tossed behind the rink?"

"Yeah, Caelum said the loser tried to challenge him over a girl and ended up crying on the ice," another student laughed, shaking their head in utter mockery.

Asher stood quietly behind a concrete pillar, his expression frozen as he watched the video of his public humiliation play out for the student.

The humiliation stung right in his chest, but instead of boiling into blind rage, the anger inside him cooled down strangely.

He pulled his phone out as a new system notification popped up across the notification bar. He swiftly opened his system interface and watched a new text prompt flash across the screen.

[Task Complete: The Crucible of Sweat. Physical Conditioning Increased by 15%.]

[Next Available Task: "The Digital Footprint."

Access and secure digital assets. Time Limit: 24 Hours.]

Asher slipped the phone back into his pocket, averting his steps toward the campus bank branch across the street.

He needed to check his balance, secure his funds, and prepare for the next phase of his silent retaliation against the people who nearly killed his sister.

As he pushed open the glass doors of the commercial bank, the cool air conditioning brushed on his sweaty skin.

The lobby was crowded with lunch-hour customers, but Counter 2 caught his attention immediately due to a loud argument echoing from the teller window.

Steven, the branch manager, was leaning aggressively over the counter, his face brewing with anger as he pointed a finger at a young female employee.

Sarah Gary stood behind the glass partition, her hands trembling as she clutched a document to her chest with terrified eyes.

"If those missing audit files are not cleared by the end of today, Sarah, you are fired and blacklisted from every financial institution in this state," Steven hissed.

"I already told you, Mr. Steven, those signature logs were altered under your administrative login, not mine," Sarah stammered, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You take the fall, or you face the police for corporate fraud," Steven whispered harshly, slamming his fist onto the marble counter.

Sarah lowered her head; she was completely frustrated at this moment and didn't know what to do. She didn't want to go to prison for money she didn't embezzle.

Asher stepped forward out of the line, his legs clicking against the polished brown tile floor as he walked straight toward Counter 2, stepping directly into the space between the manager and the terrified cashier like an immovable wall.

Steven spun around, his expression twisting into pure rage as he looked up at Asher's towering figure standing in his way.

"Get lost, you smelly vagrant; this is a private banking area," Steven snarled, hitting his hand hard against Asher's chest to push him aside.

Asher did not move an inch from where he stood; it felt like Steven had pushed a solid pillar.

Steven stumbled backwards, his eyes widened in shock as his palm throbbed from the unexpected pain.

"Step away from the counter, Man," Asher commanded with cold authority that brought silence to the surrounding lobby.